


Recovery

by orphan_account



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Angst, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2001-03-31
Updated: 2001-03-31
Packaged: 2019-05-15 18:56:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14796101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: CJ takes care of Toby after he has a medical emergency.





	Recovery

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

 

Disclaimers: The West Wing and it's characters are the  
property of Aaron Sorkin, Warner Brothers and NBC. No  
copyright infringement is intended. No profit is being  
made from this.

Rating: PG

Summary: CJ takes care of Toby after he has a medical  
emergency.

Author's Note: This was rather inspired by Sarah's  
suggestion of doing a story where CJ is the one taking  
care of Toby. Although I have researched, please  
forgive me if I mess up some of the medical stuff.

  


The plane ride had been exceedingly long. CJ had been  
beginning to think that the plane would never land,  
but it finally had. Now she found herself on the way  
to the hospital. It had been nearly five hours since  
Josh had called and told her Toby had been taken to  
the hospital. Chest pains, it was something she had  
feared since they had learned his cholesterol was  
high, as was his blood pressure.

Josh was waiting for here when she got to the  
hospital. She walked quickly to him. "How is he?" She  
asked worriedly.

"In surgery..."

"What?"

"Shh, calm down."

"Josh..." CJ sat down in a chair in the waiting room.

Josh sat down beside her. "He wasn't feeling well at  
work today. He thought it was just nausea and  
everything would be fine. We had no idea what was  
going on until he almost passed out."

"What have the doctors said?"

"That it was a heart attack.. He should be out of  
surgery soon, they can tell you more then. Honestly  
they wouldn't tell me a lot."

"Okay."

Josh squeezed her hand. "He'll be okay."

She closed her eyes and nodded. "Where are the kids?"

"Donna has them."

"I need to tell them... God what do I tell them?"

"He's going to be fine, CJ."

"Josh, you can't promise me that."

"I know."

"I'm sorry I guess some of his pessimism has rubbed  
off on me." CJ smiled weakly.

"It's going to be okay." Josh said gently.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CJ stood at the door to the Intensive Care Unit. She  
was so afraid to go inside. She was standing at the  
door, and she could hear the faint sounds of the  
machines that were monitoring Toby. She knew that if  
she went into the room, she would be faced with her  
worst nightmare. She braced herself and went inside.

She knew she should have been prepared for it.  
Perhaps in a way she had been, but the sight had  
almost been too much for her to bear. It had been the  
sight of the oxygen mask that had gotten to her. It  
wasn't that she had not known he would be on oxygen.  
She had expected it to be the nostril type.

At that moment a nurse walked in, and it was almost  
as if the nurse had been reading CJ's mind. "We'll be  
changing the oxygen to the nostril type in a little  
bit."

"Thank you, Darlene." CJ read the name tag to get the  
nurse's name. "Do you need me to leave?"

"No, I'm just going to be writing down his vitals,  
you may stay."

"Okay." CJ sat down in the chair and pulled it close  
to Toby's bed. She then reached for his left hand.  
"Where is his wedding ring?"

"They had to take it off when he went into surgery.  
It is in a safe in the basement."

"Is there any possibility I can get it?"

"I'll see what I can do."

"Okay." CJ smiled weakly. "How is he?"

"He's stable." Darlene said. "I'll be coming in and  
out of here all night, Mrs. Ziegler. I wouldn't want  
you to be startled when I come back in."

"Okay." CJ said as Darlene left.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She must have dozed off because CJ was asleep when  
Toby squeezed her hand four hours later. She  
immediately woke up, and sat up in the chair. "Toby."  
She said softly.

"Hey." He whispered hoarsely.

She got up, whispering. "Let me get you some water."  
She got the water and held it while he drank some of  
it."

"You need to sleep." He said.

"I'm fine."

"The kids?"

"Donna is looking after them. I talked to them  
earlier. They're okay."

"Do they know?"

"They know you are sick. That's all I've told them."

"Okay."

"Go back to sleep."

"I guess I shouldn't have ordered cheeseburgers when  
you were away."

She looked at him.

"I know that look. You use the same look on the kids  
when they are in trouble."

"I do?"

"Yes."

"We'll talk about this later." She whispered. "Go  
back to sleep. You need to rest." She bent and kissed  
him lightly. "I love you."

"Love you."

"Go to sleep. I'll stay here and take care of you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The afternoon sun was shining brightly through the  
windows when CJ let herself into the apartment the  
next day. Toby had insisted that she go home and rest  
for awhile, and since she didn't want to worry him,  
she thought it was better for her to placate him by  
going home. Truthfully, she didn't think she would be  
able to sleep, but at least he would think she had  
slept. As she sat down on the couch, the picture  
frames on the table caught her eye. She reached for  
one of them. It had been taken a few months earlier,  
during the annual Easter egg roll. Toby was kneeling  
and had one arm around Natalie, and the other arm  
around Nathaniel. Looking at the kids, it was hard to  
believe they were twins. Natalie looked like CJ, and  
Nathaniel looked like Toby. Natalie was just as  
outgoing as CJ was, while Nathaniel was just as much  
of an introvert as his father. Nathaniel was even  
starting to exhibit some of the same mannerisms as  
Toby. Sighing she placed the photo back on the table.  
She laid down on the couch and even though she thought  
she wasn't sleepy, she was asleep almost as soon as  
she laid down.

She woke up, two hours later when Natalie climbed up  
on the couch beside her. "What?" CJ murmured

"Not supposed to sleep with glasses on Mommy."

"I know." CJ sat up and Natalie crawled onto CJ's  
lap.

"Daddy home?"

"No, Daddy's still in the hospital."

"Daddy in the osspital." Natalie repeated.

"Yeah."

"Why Daddy in the osspital?"

"Because Daddy is sick.." CJ said as Nathaniel  
crawled into her lap.

"I don't want Daddy to be sick." Both Nathaniel and  
Natalie said at the same time.

"Neither do I." CJ hugged and kissed both of them.  
"Neither do I."

Donna, who had brought the twins home came into the  
living room at that moment. "Oh, CJ I'm sorry. I told  
them not to wake you."

"It's okay. I think I needed this." CJ said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Toby was awake when CJ got back to the hospital. She  
walked in and sat down next to him on the bed. "What  
are you doing awake?"

"I slept most of the day."

"Ah okay. Natalie wants to know why Daddy is in the  
hospital." CJ smiled.

"Did she actually say hospital?"

"No, she left the h off of course."

"Yeah. You should be happy, they served me a salad  
for dinner."

"Well, that's good. You should start getting used to  
salads. I can guarantee that's all you'll be eating  
for awhile."

"CJ..."

"I'm going to get Ginger and Bonnie to help me.  
They'll make sure you don't order cheeseburgers and  
fries when I'm not around."

"CJ..."

"I'm not getting into this discussion with you right  
now. I have a lot I want to say, but I'm not going to  
say it right now."

"Okay."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Three days later, CJ walked into Toby's hospital room  
and found Toby sitting on the edge of the bed. "What  
are you doing?"

"I'm sitting here."

"I can tell that. That's all you are doing?"

"Yes."

"You weren't planning on getting up?"

"I wouldn't mind it."

"The doctors probably would though." She sat down on  
the bed beside him.

"Yeah."

"Of course I could move that chair closer to the bed  
and you could sit in it for...oh say about ten  
minutes."

"You could do that."

"Yeah." She said as she got up and moved the chair.  
She then helped him put a robe on, and helped him into  
the chair.

"I hate this." He murmured.

"What?"

"That you have to help me like this."

"Well I seem to remember you helping me after I had  
the kids."

"Yeah, but that was different."

"How?"

"It just was."

She laughed. "Okay." She glanced at her watch.

"How much longer do I have?"

"About seven minutes. How was it different?"

"What?"

"You helping me?"

"It just was."

"Okay."

A few minutes later, CJ helped Toby back to the bed.  
She took the robe off and pulled the covers around  
him. She straightened the pillows and then sat down on  
the bed to fold the robe.

"That was strange?"

"What was?"

"Usually, when you undress me you are kissing me and  
other things."

CJ blushed but didn't say anything.

"You are turning a very beautiful shade of red right  
now."

"I know that."

"I was just checking."

"You're feeling better."

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"You're teasing me. But there's something else you're  
doing to."

"And that would be?"

"You're tired and you're fighting going to sleep just  
like the kids do."

"I'm not sleepy."

"Yes you are."

"I'm enjoying talking to you."

"I know that. You should sleep for awhile. I'm not  
going anywhere."

"Okay." He closed his eyes and soon was asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CJ quietly sat in the waiting room of the floor Toby  
was in. She was incredibly grateful for all that  
Donna had done in the last week.. Donna had  
volunteered to watch the children at night, and take  
them to daycare in the morning. She was supposed to  
bring them to see Toby for an hour or so, and CJ was  
waiting for them to arrive.

"Mommy." Both Nathaniel and Natalie cried after they  
got off the elevator. They both ran to the chair she  
was sitting in, and she picked them up.

"I guess you want to see Daddy." She said, and they  
both nodded. "Okay, but you have to be quiet, and if  
he's asleep we're going to let him sleep."

"Okay." They both said.

CJ stood to take them to Toby's room. "I'll just stay  
in here." She heard Donna say.

"Well, I think Toby was wanting to thank you for  
watching them." CJ said.

"It hasn't been a problem."

"Okay."

"I'll come and get them in an hour or so."

"Okay." CJ said, she turned and went to Toby's room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Three days later, CJ walked into Toby's room. "Has  
the doctor been by yet?" She asked as she sat down in  
the chair.

"No."

"Okay."

"I want out of here."

"I know you do. That's the reason I was asking if the  
doctor had come."

"Okay."

"I've been told that if you keep improving you'll  
probably get out tomorrow."

"They told you that?"

"Yes."

"Why didn't they tell me that?"

"I guess they didn't want to get your hopes up."

"And you feel fine doing that?"

"Yeah." She smiled and kissed his forehead.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, CJ walked into the room carrying a  
bag of clothes for Toby. "So are you ready to go  
home?" She asked cheerfully.

"More than ready."

"So is the IV out?"

"Yeah."

"Good, that'll make getting dressed much easier."

"Okay."

Ten minutes later, she had helped him to get dressed.  
"Why don't you lay down till we get the release  
papers."

"I'm okay."

"Toby." CJ said as she moved his feet onto the bed.  
"Just rest for a while."

"Okay."

CJ walked over to the other side of the room, and  
picked up a bag. "What is this?"

"I think it's the stuff I had when I was admitted."

CJ sat down and opened it. She started to look  
through it until she found what she was looking for.  
She put the bag back down and then sat down beside him  
on the bed. She picked up his left hand gently running  
her fingers over it. "So have you missed something?"

"What?"

"This." She was rolling his wedding ring around in  
his hand.

"Where did you get that?"

"It was in with your belongings. They had to take it  
off when you had surgery. It was in the safe and I  
couldn't get it."

"Okay."

"So would you like it back?"

"Yeah." He said softly.

She looked at the hand that she was still holding.  
She held it for a moment longer, and then slipped the  
ring back on his finger. She raised his hand up and  
kissed his knuckles. "There I think that is back where  
it belongs."

He squeezed her hand. "Yeah."

At that moment a nurse came in and said. "Are you  
ready to go, Mr. Ziegler?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Both the nurse and CJ were hovering over Toby as he  
got into the car. It had taken five minutes to  
convince him he had to use the wheelchair. After the  
nurse left CJ reached for the seat belt to help him  
with it.

"I can do that." He said taking it from her.

"Okay." She stayed to make sure he got it fastened  
and then went to the other side of the car.

When they got to their apartment building, CJ was  
lucky and found a parking spot near the door. "Wait  
till I come over there to get out." CJ said.

Toby didn't say anything, but when she got to his  
side of the car, he already had the door opened and  
his feet were on the ground.

"Toby..."

"I just moved my feet. That's all."

"Okay." She stood there as he got out of the car.

"Are the kids here?" He asked when they were on the  
elevator.

"No, Donna took them to daycare this morning."

"Okay."

Once they were in the apartment, CJ asked. "Do you  
want to lay down?"

"No, I'll just sit in the recliner for awhile."

"Okay." She walked over there with him, and once he  
had sat down she moved to raise the footrest.

"CJ, I can do that."

"Okay. I'm going to get the rest of the stuff out of  
the car."

"Okay."

When she got back, he had fallen asleep. She got a  
throw off the couch and covered him with it. She then  
sat down on the couch and watched him for awhile. She  
lowered her head and ran her fingers through her hair.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CJ looked out the kitchen window as she was putting  
groceries up. Toby had been home for a week. He was  
starting to get a little stronger. She was trying not  
to worry, trying not to hover over him. She didn't  
think she was being very successful. She finished and  
went back to the living room. She glanced at Toby and  
saw that he was asleep. She knew that the children  
were napping right now, and she had checked on them  
earlier. She picked up a few of their toys and then  
sat down.

"Tired?" Toby asked.

"I thought you were asleep."

"No, just resting my eyes."

"Okay." She laughed. "Would you like a sandwich for  
lunch?"

"Yeah."

She went into the kitchen and fixed a turkey  
sandwich. When she came out of the kitchen, she found  
him sitting at the dining room table. She sat the  
sandwich down and then sat down with him.

He took a couple of bites of the sandwich, and then  
said. "This is fat free mayonnaise?"

"Yes."

"I thought we had agreed that since I don't eat a lot  
of mayonnaise, I could have regular mayonnaise?"

"Toby any agreement that we had was nullified when  
you had a heart attack!" She cried and quickly left.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Toby had stood in the doorway watching her for nearly  
half an hour. He knew she was crying. She had started  
to settle down a few minutes earlier, so he decided to  
go into the bedroom. He sat down beside her on the bed  
and started to stroke her hair.

"You there was probably nothing that could have been  
done to prevent this." Toby said softly.

"I guess not."

"I did everything the doctor told me."

"I seem to remember something about a low fat diet."

"Which I did."

"Really? Was there a memo sent out that said  
cheeseburgers are low fat? Because if there was I  
didn't get it."

"CJ, I ate maybe two cheeseburgers since that  
appointment."

"You said..."

"I know what I said. It was a very weak attempt at a  
joke."

"It wasn't funny."

"I know that."

"Okay."

"My jokes are never funny."

She smiled a little bit. "Yes I know."

He laid down beside her, and then slipped his arms  
around her. "Toby." She whispered.

"Shh, you're not hurting me. Just relax."

"Okay."

"Care to tell me what's bothering you?"

"Nothing."

"I don't believe you."

"I know you don't."

"Okay."

"I almost lost you."

"I'm fine."

"But still..."

"CJ, I'm fine and I plan to stay that way."

"You could have died."

"CJ," He took her hand and placed it lightly over his  
heart, "I didn't. I'm right here and I'm going to be  
okay."

"I keep telling myself that."

"It's not working?"

"No."

He tightened his arms around her. "Why don't you go  
to sleep?"

"Toby, Nathaniel and Natalie are going to wake up  
soon."

"I can take care of them."

"Toby..."

"I'll get them to bring some toys in here and I'll  
watch them."

"I am sleepy."

"I know that you're exhausted." He sat up. "Come  
here." He said as he pulled her onto his lap. "Just  
sleep for a couple of hours."

"Okay, just for a little while." She closed her eyes  
and fell asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CJ came into the apartment and sat her briefcase in  
the closet. She had started back to work earlier in  
the week. Toby still had at least a month of therapy  
to do before he started back to work . It had been a  
long day. She had planned to be home hours ago, but  
there had been a situation. She looked in on the  
children and saw they were asleep. She kissed both of  
them and then went to look for Toby.

He was sitting in bed reading when she walked into  
the bedroom. When she came in, he immediately sat the  
book aside. "Good evening."

She sat down. "Hello."

"Long day?"

"Yeah." She sat back against the headboard. "Wait  
didn't you have a doctor's appointment today?"

"Yeah."

"And?"

"I'm fine."

"Anything else to tell me?"

"Yes, but that can wait till later."

"Okay."

"You should eat dinner."

"We ordered out."

"And what did you get?"

"Why?"

"I want to make certain you are eating properly when  
I'm not around." Toby joked.

She rolled her eyes. "I had a salad."

"Okay."

"So what else were you going to tell me?"

"I'd rather show you."

"You'd rather show me?"

"Yes."

"Okay."

Toby moved closer to her. He gently brushed her hair  
back. He then started to caress her face with his  
thumb.

"Toby." She said softly.

"Yes."

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing." He replaced his thumb with his lips and  
gently kissed her.

"Toby."

"Hmm."

"We can't do this."

"We aren't doing anything, yet."

"The doctor said you couldn't do anything strenuous."  
CJ said.

"The doctor also said, today, that I could make love  
to my wife."

"It's just..."

"CJ, the doctor's say I'm fine. It's not going to  
hurt me if we make love. "

She smiled. "I have missed you."

"I've missed you too."

"Oh, you have?"

"Yes." He started to kiss her gently as it went on  
the kiss deepened.

She pulled away from him and stared into his eyes for  
several moments. CJ then laid down, pulling him with  
her and into another kiss.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She lay with her head resting on his chest. His arms  
were tightly wrapped around her, and CJ could hear  
Toby's heart beating. She could tell no difference in  
this time, and the countless others times she had lain  
like this. She could feel his hands gently stroking  
her hair and back , and it was almost like the last  
seven weeks had not happened. As she lay drowsily in  
his arms, CJ found that she was starting to truly  
believe that everything was going to be all right.

"You okay?" Toby asked.

"I feel like I should be saying that to you."

"You've just been very quiet."

"I was just thinking."

"What about?"

"I feel like we've come through everything now."

"Oh?"

"Yes, like everything is back to normal."

"Speaking of things being back to normal, did you  
shut the door?"

"Oops. I should go do that." CJ slipped her robe on  
and went to shut the door. She checked on Natalie and  
Nathaniel while she was gone.

"They are sleeping?" Toby asked when she came back.

"Yeah."

He watched her get back into bed. "You know you are a  
very beautiful woman."

"If I didn't know better, I would say you were trying  
to get me into bed." She laughed as she lay back  
against him.

"You're already in bed."

"So I am."

He kissed her gently. "I love you."

"I love you too." She murmured just before falling  
asleep.

The end.


End file.
